Cryptocurrencies have long been lauded for being a borderless, decentralized way to transfer cash — and while they’ve emerged as a major speculative asset, fans have often struggled to point to a real-world use case for them.

But thanks to a broad lack of regulation and the ability to carry out transactions via anonymous accounts, crypto have become incredibly popular for a distinctly grim use: funding human trafficking operations, from trapping laborers in compounds and forcing them to work, to prostitution rings.

According to a new report by blockchain intelligence company Chainalysis, crypto flows to suspected human trafficking services grew a shocking 85 percent last year, an alarming trend that underlines how the…